Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Mental health among Canadian youth is hitting a crisis point

Last week, police intervened to prevent a suicide pact among thirty young people, mostly aboriginal, in downtown Vancouver.In early October, 15-year-old Amanda Todd committed suicide after experiencing extensive bullying, harassment and assault from her peers. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth people in Canada.These kinds of stories and statistics shouldn’t be normal for Canadian young
people. Yet despite news reports on specific incidents and the constant,
low-level noise about the latest crisis among teens – eating disorders,
self-harm, and cyber-bullying all come to mind – young Canadians are still
waiting on a systemic review of the support available for youth with mental
illness.A new approach is desperately needed. Somewhere between
10 and 20 per cent of Canadian young people are living with mental illness.
Despite these high numbers, only 20 per cent of children who need mental health
support are receiving it.This is not a problem that has emerged suddenly, from out of nowhere. Some 80 per cent of mental disorders first become apparent
during adolescence. We could be using this knowledge to build targeted supports
to identify mental illness early. Instead, we’re letting our young people
founder.To add to this frustration, it’s well accepted that early intervention
increases the effectiveness of mental health treatments and improves quality of
life for people with mental illness. In not developing a comprehensive youth
mental health strategy, we are failing Canada’s young people at a time when
they could most benefit from additional support.However, the problem isn’t merely in our institutions. Mental illness is
still stigmatized and misunderstood. It’s already difficult for adults to find
care and support; for young people, who are dismissed as “just going through a
phase” or not taken seriously because of their age, it can be even harder.Most conversations about mental illness inevitably lead to discussions of
stigma. But that one word, so all-encompassing, can also hide how the
experience of stigma is lived. Our casual language – “that’s insane,” “what a
nutjob,” “she’s completely mental” – uses mental illness as a shorthand for
things that are wrong, bad, or irrational. Depictions of mental illness in media show characters that
are violent or completely unable to function in society. Harmful assumptions
about mental illness are commonplace and often go unchallenged. Taken together,
these brief and pedestrian interactions with the world can create an
overwhelming impression of a society that does not have space for people with
mental illness.This experience of stigma is one of the biggest barriers preventing people
from accessing needed mental health supports. It’s a terrible catch-22:
acknowledge your mental illness and face up to entrenched stereotypes, or keep
quiet and isolate yourself from support you need.The experience of mental illness can also be shaped by other factors.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people experience higher
rates of mental illness – most likely because of the prejudice and
discrimination they face for their sexual orientations. Transgender people face
particularly
high risks: 77 per cent of transgender people in Ontario have seriously
considered suicide, and 43 per cent have attempted suicide.For members of the LGBTQ community dealing with mental illness, the
difficulties of seeking care are compounded by the need to find care providers
who understand the unique challenges faced by this demographic. For instance,
LGBTQ students report higher
rates of verbal bullying and physical harassment than their straight peers
– and adults charged with shaping school policy sometimes contribute
to the problem. Effective care for LGBTQ youth dealing with mental illness
has to include recognition of the ways discrimination shapes their experience.Aboriginal people also face particular challenges when it comes to mental
illness. The aftermath of colonialism and ongoing racism can make it more
difficult for aboriginal people to access mental health care that serves their
needs. Deliberate policies of displacement and assimilation served to weaken
community ties and isolate individuals from support networks. Aboriginal
communities in Canada are actively rebuilding, but the effects of the past can
still be felt.Providing culturally appropriate mental health care to aboriginal
communities is incredibly important. The suicide rate among aboriginal youth is
estimated at five to six times the rate among their non-aboriginal
peers. Any strategy addressing mental health care interventions for Canadian
youth ought to make aboriginal youth a priority.Being a teenager is already hard. For years, we each struggle to define
ourselves as individuals, while at the same time we’re trying to find a place
where we can fit in the world. The lack of accessible mental health resources
and continued stigma puts an even heavier burden on some young people when
they’re already struggling with the day-to-day experience of growing up.We need a new mental health strategy for young people; but we also need to
confront the ways that we stigmatize mental illness, and take steps as
individuals to help ensure that people with mental illness can feel understood
and accepted.